Iran through my eyes

The Carpet Weaver

I think that I can say without prejudice that the Persians make the best hand-made carpets in the world. The designs are exquisite and the workmanship is awesome. Carpet weaving in Iran is an ancient craft with the earliest woven carpet, the Pazyryk Carpet dating from at least 500BC and thought to be Persian (or Armenian), on show in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia.

Persian carpets are usually made from wool, sometimes camel hair but often from silk which makes finely knotted carpets that look like painted pictures rather than rugs they are so delicate and tightly put together. Traditional Persian carpets are knotted and not woven and thousands of knots make up each row. Each knot is made by hand which is extremely time-consuming and harsh on the fingers. Carpets or rugs can have as many as 900 knots per square inch although between 500-700 is more usual.

There are many traditional designs, and each region of Iran has their own special design and colours that they use. Kashan is considered to be the Persian carpet capital and traditionally produces carpets of brick red, ivory and beige with dark blue medallions and borders. The carpet makers of Esfahan however tend to use traditional designs like the Tree of Life and contemporary items feature more pastel colours.

Traditional Isfahan design

Traditional Kashan design

Traditional Shiraz design

And so it was that Mr Aghaee, our guide at Na’in Old Mosque who we met earlier in the series, has a wife who is a renowned local carpet maker. As is typical with Iranians when I expressed an interest he rang his wife and we were invited to their house to meet her and watch her at work. I love planning my holiday trips and Iran has never disappointed me so far, but I also love the unplanned diversions usually at the behest of the wonderful Iranian hospitality.

Mrs Aghaee was every bit as welcoming as her husband but with less English and so all my questions were routed via Feri. Mrs Aghaee started by sitting at her loom and giving us a demonstration of her Persian knotting skills using a mixed silk and wool thread. The carpet she is working on is a commission from Tehran and she is expecting it to take 26 months to complete. We worked out that for the price of this carpet she “earns” between £1 and £1.50 per hour. The equivalent in the UK based on the National Minimum Wage would be £25,000.

Working at the loom

The original design

Hand woven rugs

Whilst knotting away very quickly, Mrs Aghee told us that she has been making carpets since she was 6 years old, and as the only daughter of 7 children, it was up to her to carry on the family tradition. Watching her at her craft, Mrs Aghaee used a very heavy device to “fix” the knots and she admitted that it can make her wrist very painful after a while but it is necessary to ensure the tightness of the knots. She also said that sitting at her loom for hours on end can give her back ache so whilst the carpets and rugs are beautiful and very desirable, they clearly come at a personal cost to health.

Mrs Aghaee insisted on us staying for some tea (chai) whilst she showed us some of her carpets and rugs. She also told us about her seven children, six of whom are highly educated with her youngest son being an incredibly talented artist. Sadly, none of the children are in the least interested in carrying on the family carpet making tradition and so the specialist skills learned and honed over the years and the knowledge passed on from generation to generation will be lost unless Mrs Aghaee finds someone interested in taking this on.

Na’in old mosque designed and woven by Mrs Aghaee

I would have loved to have brought a rug made by Mrs Aghaee home with us, but with the smallest (and the most beautiful in my opinion) was £2,000 and therefore beyond our means this holiday. Maybe next time!

2 Responses

The knots are amazing- the sheer number per inch is unbelievable. It is very sad to lose the art but in many ways you can understand why- the time it takes to make a rug/carpet and the tools are so heavy. I wouldn’t last 5 minutes at the loom!